BIRMINGHAM,
Alabama -- Carole Robertson -- one of the four young girls killed in the Sixteenth
Street Baptist Church bombing on Sept. 15, 1963 -- was honored today at
the library branch in her old neighborhood with music, speeches and a donation of
books and a reading bench.

"Carole
Robertson Day" at Smithfield Library, which was sponsored by the Jack and Jill organization and the Birmingham Public Library, was
attended -- despite the rainy weather -- by nearly 100 people.

Robertson,
who was 14 at the time of her death, grew up in Smithfield and was very active
in Jack and Jill, a predominantly African-American family organization with
over 220 chapters in 35 states and the District of Columbia.

"Because
of her sacrifice, we are able to enjoy many privileges that were not available to
her," said Adrienne Jones, president of the Jack and Jill Birmingham chapter.

Meghan
Marks, the chapter's teen vice-president, noted that the tragic bombing helped
build support for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and said that progress
made in Birmingham since the bombing is a sign that "good can come from evil."

"I
welcome you today to a Birmingham that is less segregated, far more progressive
and still rich in teenage dreams," Marks said.

Birmingham
City Council President Roderick Royal noted the rich civil rights legacy of the
Smithfield neighborhood, which he called a "very historic place," and said that
the Smithfield Library was one of the first in the area open to black people.

He also
celebrated the work carried out among African-American youth by Jack and Jill. "I
stand with you 100 percent in the work you do... preparing our young people to be
the people they can and certainly should be."

The
event was attended by Robertson's older sister, Dianne Braddock, who said that
Jack and Jill was the first organization to officially honor her late sister. The
organization has celebrated Carole Robertson Day in September each year since
1964.

Braddock
said that many chapters around the county have scholarships in her sister's
name and host candle-lighting ceremonies and other events each year.

"Carole
loved Jack and Jill, and so did I," Braddock said. "We had a lot of fun. Not
only was our chapter preparing us for leadership, but they balanced it with a
lot of fun."

Braddock
said that Jack and Jill "is still important in the black community" as a way to
nurture teens and help prepare them to be leaders.

She noted
the important role that teens and children take in planning Jack and Jill
events, such as the program in Smithfield and a similar tribute to her sister
that she attended in Oak Park, Ill., on Thursday.

"We
should have no doubt regarding our children," she said. "When they get in
programs like this, they will be OK."

Braddock
also said that despite the progress made by African-Americans since the 1960s, there
are still obstacles to that progress, such as recent problems with voter
registration by minorities.

This
makes it imperative that people remember the sacrifices made by people like her
sister and others in the Civil Right Movement, according to Braddock.

"The
world needs to know and the world needs to remember what happened in Birmingham
50 years ago," she said.

Following
her remarks, most of the attendees linked arms and sang a brief rendition of
the old civil rights marching song, "We Shall Overcome," accompanied by
violinist Shaniah Harmon.

Jefferson
County Circuit Court Judge Carole Smitherman said that she was friends with bombing victim Carol Denise McNair and played hopscotch with her the Friday before the bombing.

Smitherman recalled
that McNair asked her to attend a youth day that Sunday at Sixteenth Street
Baptist, but that Smitherman's mother did not allow her to go.

Instead,
she attended services with her family at Westminister Presbyterian Church. "We
heard and felt the bomb go off," Smitherman said. "Everybody looked at each
other."

But she said that she and her family did not know until later -- after hearing radio
news accounts and driving to the site of the bombing -- what had happened.

She
told the young people of Jack and Jill to value their friends. "Stay true to
them," she said. "Encourage them. You never know who they may be."

The
four girls killed in the bombing were heroes, or "she-roes, if you will,"
according to Smitherman, who encouraged the girls in Jack and Jill to reach for
greatness.

"They
say that good women know their limits, but great women know they have no limits,"
Smitherman said. "Girls, be great women for God."

Alabama
State Rep. Merika Coleman-Evans presented a resolution honoring Robertson that
was passed by the Alabama House. And Coleman said the young people of Jack and Jill have much still to fight for in order
for African-Americans to achieve full equality.

"There's
a battle we still must wage," she said, citing such examples as the Trayvon Martin
killing and the recent gutting of the landmark Voting Rights Act by the U.S. Supreme
Court.

"The
battle is still on, Jack and Jill," Coleman said. "I'm challenging you to take
the torch and run with it."

Following
the ceremony, library officials and artist Laura Brassell unveiled a brightly
painted reading bench that was donated by Jack and Jill and installed in the library's vestibule in
Robertson's honor. The area is now called the "Carole Robertson Reading Corner."

Robertson was an avid reader, and Jack
and Jill also donated about 100 children's books to the library in her memory.

The
other three girls killed in the bombing in 1963 were Denise McNair, 11, and
Addie Mae Collins and Cynthia Wesley, both 14.

The
Smithfield Library, a branch of the Birmingham Public Library, is located at
One Eighth Ave. West. For more information, call (205) 324-8428.

CORRECTION 9-21-13: In an earlier version of this post, we said that Smitherman related an anecdote of being invited to church before the bombing by Carole Robertson. However, we were told tonight by a library spokesperson that Smitherman was referring to Carol Denise McNair, whom most people referred to as Denise.